Rafah invasion could prompt ‘unprecedented’ US-Israel crisis
Martin Indyk, who was Washington’s ambassador to Israel under the Clinton administration, has warned that Israel risks pushing its closest ally past its “limit” and jeopardising its weapons supplies if it proceeds with a planned invasion of Rafah.
“Israel should understand that the Biden administration’s level of frustration about mishandling of the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached the limit,” Indyk was quoted as saying in The Washington Post.
“If Israel launches an offensive in Rafah without adequately protecting the displaced civilian population, it may precipitate an unprecedented crisis in US-Israel relations, even involving arms supplies.”
Minnesota’s ‘stunning’ uncommitted vote reveals enduring problem for Biden
The concept behind the Michigan protest was simple: Cast a vote for the “uncommitted” option in the Democratic primary, instead of supporting US President Joe Biden. The idea, activists say, is to send a message that Democratic voters will not tolerate Biden’s unequivocal support for Israel’s war in Gaza. And that message appears to be gaining steam.
Last week, over 101,000 Michigan residents cast “uncommitted” ballots in the Democratic primary, for around 13 percent of the vote. This week, on Super Tuesday, Minnesota saw nearly 19 percent of its primary votes go to the “uncommitted” category – an even higher ratio of voters, despite the last-minute nature of the state’s protest.
The results mean that 11 Minnesota delegates, alongside two from Michigan, will represent the protest at the Democratic National Convention in August. They also show the protest movement against Biden extends beyond Arab and Muslim voters, analysts say.
White House seeks list of all upcoming Israel arms shipments
The White House has tasked the State Department and the Pentagon with compiling a roster of pending arms transfers to Israel, reports Axios, citing four US officials.
The officials said the request was not an indication that Biden is considering suspending or conditioning Israeli weapons shipments in the near future. However, it does come as Biden faces growing scrutiny for his staunch backing of Israel — and amid US fears that Netanyahu cannot be deterred from a likely bloody invasion into Rafah.
Earlier this week, over 30 Democrats in the House of Representatives penned a letter to Biden stating that Israel’s expected invasion of Rafah would likely disqualify it from US aid because Israel has not provided “credible assurances” it would respect international humanitarian law.
Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, in comments to the Washington Post today, said: “If Israel launches an offensive in Rafah without adequately protecting the displaced civilian population, it may precipitate an unprecedented crisis in US-Israel relations, even involving arms supplies.”
Israel’s evacuation orders in Gaza illegal: UN special rapporteur
Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, says Israel’s orders to evacuate the civilian population from Gaza are illegal and have been used to forcibly transfer and detain Palestinians.
“I was completely shocked to hear that Israel intends to extend these evacuation orders to Rafah, which is the only refuge for about 70% of the surviving Gazans and the only point open for humanitarian assistance,” Betancur said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
“Any evacuation order imposed on Rafah under the current circumstances, with the rest of Gaza reduced to rubble, would be a flagrant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.
“It should be emphasised that any evacuation that took place in Gaza was not legal,” she said, adding that those orders “have not made the residents of Gaza safer” but instead resulted in their forcible transfer and detention.
Israeli forces ‘likely’ shot machinegun at reporters after shelling them
On October 13, an Israeli tank crew fired shells at a clearly marked group of journalists near the Lebanese border, killing one Reuters reporter and injuring six others, including two Al Jazeera reporters.
An analysis by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), commissioned by Reuters, has found that the journalists were also targeted with machineguns, likely fired by the same Israeli forces. “It is considered a likely scenario that a Merkava tank, after firing two tank rounds, also used its machine gun against the location of the journalists,” TNO’s report said.
“The latter cannot be concluded with certainty as the direction and exact distance of [the machinegun] fire could not be established.”
AFP Global News Director Phil Chetwynd, reacting to the finding, said: “If reports of sustained machine gun fire are confirmed, this would add more weight to the theory this was a targeted and deliberate attack.”
A journalist’s car burns at the site where Reuters videojournalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six others were injured in Alma ash-Shaab, southern Lebanon, October 13, 2023
Palestinian prisoners at Israeli Etzion jail experience harsh conditions
At least 110 Palestinian prisoners are being held in overcrowded cells at the Etzion detention centre in the southern occupied West Bank. The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs pointed out that food was insufficient and of poor quality, in addition to the medical negligence of sick prisoners and a significant shortage of clothes.
Prisoners have had to alternate sleeping times due to the lack of beds. Tighter security measures and continuous attempts at provocation and extortion were carried out by soldiers against the prisoners, it reported.
Lawyer Jacqueline al-Fararja was recently able to visit 33 prisoners, most of whom were beaten up, abused and humiliated before being arrested. She said marks of torture were visible all over the prisoners’ bodies.
